Too Small For Any Hope or Promise
by UnlimitedShadow
Summary: XXOnce Upon a Time CrossoverXX Witches. Genies. Fairy-tales come to life. Dean is longing for a normal life without the demons and the monsters. Sam thinks he's come across a case that will finally give the brothers the happy-ending that they so well deserve - a case which brings the Winchesters to Storybrooke, Maine where Emma and the others have just returned from Neverland.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own Supernatural. I wish I did, but hey, a girl can't have everything.

**Summary: **Witches. Genies. Fairy-tales come to life. Dean is longing for a normal life without the demons and the monsters. Sam thinks he's come across a case that will finally give the brothers the happy-ending that they so well deserve - a case which brings the Winchesters to Storybrooke, Maine where Emma and the others have just returned from Neverland. Of course, nothing is ever as it seems and along with new allies (and villains) the Winchesters find themselves entangled in a mystery that will truly test the strength of family and brotherhood.

**A/N: **Hello all you lovely folks. This little fic I'm working on is set during S9 of Supernatural and sort of during S3 of Once Upon a Time. It will obviously be slightly AU. If you've seen S9 and S3 you'll notice the differences. There will be a few spoilers so please be mindful of that. There may be some pairings in the future, although I haven't entirely decided on which yet. Other than that, there's not much else for me to say except I hope you'll enjoy this first chapter!

**Too Small For Any Hope or Promise **

**CHAPTER ONE: **Something Wicked This Way Comes

**XXXXXXX**

_Present Day,  
Somewhere in Michigan _

Dean Winchester had never been known for being a particularly patient man. He liked things done quickly and preferably without any hassle added to the mix. Of course his track record as of late had consisted of none of these things and quite frankly it was a bit of a joke. Almost as if he was off his game. At that remark, Dean snorted and let out a seemingly sarcastic chuckle. Him? Dean Winchester? Off his game? It was the most ridiculous thought and Dean wanted to kick himself for it ever emerging. Although a little voice lurking at the very back of his mind knew that there was some truth in it, even though Dean would never speak it out loud or even admit it to himself. The eldest Winchester stifled a yawn and stretched out. His back ached from a rough sleep. There had been a lack of motels along the road they'd been driving and so they had parked by an empty layover and simply slept in the car. It was nights like that which made Dean miss living with Lisa and Ben more than anything.

_Weird_, he thought. He hadn't thought about those two for a long while and then suddenly there they were on his mind again.

"I hate witches."

"I _know_ Dean," Sam put today's newspaper down his lap and sighed as he turned around to his older brother. "I heard you the first thousand times. They're _only _witches, it's not like we haven't dealt with them before. This should be easy." Sam reached for his coffee cup, only to be greeted by the unpleasant surprise that it had grown cold. He'd been far too entranced with the articles in the paper to remember his coffee which normally was a much needed necessity in the morning; especially if he were to cope with Dean's recently grumpy mood. The past few weeks had certainly been interesting what with angels falling being cast out of heaven. It was strange, Sam expected there to have been thousands of sightings all over the world but the only thing the media described it as was a massive worldwide, extremely rare meteor shower. In one way it was good, because honestly he had a sneaky feeling explaining the existence of angels and demons wasn't something the majority of the population wasn't quite prepared to comprehend.

"Oh yeah," the sarcasm in Dean's voice was unavoidable "Because it's always turned out so great whenever we've dealt with witches before. When has anything good ever come out of hunting their asses huh Sammy? You remember the Starks? Yeah, they were a different kind of special; even Dr Phil couldn't help those two."

Dean twitched at the unpleasant memory of the Starks case whereas Sam couldn't help but to let slip a grin. Admittedly, he knew his brother had a point about witches; they were some of the most unpleasant and annoying creatures they've fought. Mainly because they were so up on their high horses and extremely difficult to properly kill in the first place. Not to mention they had the right attitude to go with it.

"If it is witches we're dealing with though, it should be pretty straight forward." Leaning back against the leather seats of his beloved Impala, Dean couldn't help but to feel like they had missed something. Everything had gone according to plan; they had sought out the witches and knew exactly how to deal with them and thus far they had not run into any trouble. It was far too simple. In all his experience and career as a hunter that could only mean that they were in for some kind of trouble and it made him slightly uneasy.

"And then there were the housewives of doom a couple years ago, not to mention when I turned into an old man and you know who my favourite person is in this whole timeline huh Sammy?" Dean continued ranting as he drove along the seemingly empty country roads of Michigan. This particular coven of witches they'd been tracking down were the cause of a few

"No," Sam rolled his eyes "But I have a feeling you're gonna tell me anyway."

"Ruby." There it was. Sam sighed and admittedly he sometimes forgot that Ruby had been a witch before she'd become a demon. "Right there is your number one reason to why you should never trust a—WHOA!" Instinctively, Dean hit the brakes of the Impala so hard it spun around across the road, leaving clear tyre marks in the tar, and stopped right in front of what appeared to be a woman. At least to Dean, this made him think back on a case a few years ago where they had encountered a young woman who'd died on the highway and wasn't aware that she was a ghost. This was a similar incident, except the woman in front of them was covered in blood and appeared to be very much alive. They all exchanged mutual expressions of confusion until something that sounded like voices shouting in the distance seemed to get her attention.

"Uh…." Sam started as the girl ran off across the road and into the woods. In all honesty, it all seemed awfully cliché, even for them. "Should we go after her?"

"Random bleeding girl running off into the woods?" Dean turned to his brother. "I'll be honest with you Sammy I'm half expecting angry villagers to come after her with pitchforks and torches."

"You park the car I'll follow her?"

"Yeah that sounds like a plan." Sam got out the car and quickly headed into the forest. It had been raining recently, the ground was damp and there was a sort of raw cold in the air. Then again, it was common knowledge that November had never been Sam's favourite month of the year. It didn't take long before he saw the girl caught in what seemed to be some particularly nasty branches. Their life, Sam thought, never had a dull moment. There were questions to be answered though but he was sure they'd get to that eventually.

"I'm stuck!"

"What's your name?"

"Millie," she panted. "My name's Millie."

"Hey Millie, my name's Sam. I'm here to help you. My brother's on his way too." as Sam walked towards her, he couldn't help but to notice the small silver key that was hung in a chain around her neck. As Sam bent down to cut her loose of the snarl she was caught in, he also noticed the cuts up her leg from its thorns.

"I need to get out of this before they find us!" It was a desperate plea and it made Sam wonder exactly who was after her. The branches were thick, much more so than Sam expected but soon enough he was able to cut through them. Millie grabbed hold of Sam and pulled him back whilst a sort of fluorescent violet light formed around them in the shape of a circle. Although in all his years as a hunter Sam had never seen a circle of this kind before. There was a different kind of magic about this and the youngest Winchester had a feeling they'd been caught in something else.

"You're a witch." Sam told her, his voice remained calm and steady.

Millie turned to Sam. "It's not what you think Sam," she told him "I'm not the one you're hunting."

Sam snorted in disbelief. Maybe Dean was right about witches after all. It would be just their typical luck. "Then _who_ is?" he asked, sharply but it wasn't Millie who answered him.

"I believe that would be me. I forget my manners, how rude of me not to introduce myself. The name's Marius." Imagine your stereotypical image of a rock-star from the 00s with a little hint of Tony Stark in him and that would be Marius. Although the clothes he was wearing didn't really fit the stereotype, there was something else about them. Something else about him that Sam couldn't quite put his finger on but that was the least of their concerns at that particular point in time.

"Give me the key Millie," Marius' voice was smooth and calm "It would save everyone a lot of hassle."

"No!" Millie held onto the key around her neck like she was protecting it with her life. "It was never yours to have."

"You always were such a pain in the arse. Kill them."

There was the sound of a shotgun cocking and Dean aiming his Winchester Carbine '94 at Marius. "I don't think so."

"Dean!"

As quickly as Dean had got his shotgun out, Marius snapped his fingers which made Dean collapse, as though under some kind of spell. As he snapped his fingers again, the circle around Millie and Sam disappeared. Sam tried to move but he was frozen or paralyzed.

"I'll take this shall I?" Marius put the key in his pocket and turned around to Sam and Dean with a very pleased, smug grin spread across his face. "It was a pleasure to meet you boys, I've no doubt I'll see you again. Millie, give my best to Sheriff Swan, I'm sure she misses me terribly."

And just like that, Marius and the others with him vanished. Once they did their magic seemed to reverse and as soon as Sam could move again he ran towards his brother and helped him up.

"Sam." Dean groaned

"Yeah Dean?"

"I _really_, freakin' hate witches."

**XXXXXXX**

_Storybrooke, Maine._

_Sheriff Emma Swan found herself wandering in a dream. Or, wandering wasn't quite the right term. It was kind of like she was a spectator of sorts. Watching scenes play out in front of her almost as if she was watching a silver screen picture. The plot was uncertain though, but she saw people she recognised, members of her family and the people that she loved. Her son. Her parents. Her lover. But there were also new faces she hadn't seen before. Two brothers fighting alongside them. There was also darkness. A voice calling out to them. A threat. Something they had never encountered before._

_And then she woke up._

"Emma?" Hook walked up to Emma whom was stood by the window of the apartment they now shared. "What's wrong?" asked the pirate with genuine concern in his voice.

Emma remained silent until she turned around to Hook and spoke quietly. "Something's coming to Storybrooke."

**XXXXXXX**

"Well, I think it's pretty safe to say the anti-witch spell won't cut it. Back to square one again, I guess." Dean leaned back against the hood of his car as he put a wet towel against his wound on his arm. It stung a little he'd seen far worse it was nothing he wouldn't survive. He reached inside his pocket for the brass flask he was always carrying and took a zip of the alcoholic liquid inside it.

"I don't know Dean. Maybe we should call Cas." Sam suggested. In fact, he'd insisted for that to be their plan to begin with but Dean had been stubborn and Sam hadn't bothered arguing against him.

"Are you kidding me?" Dean took another zip and passed the flask to Sam. "Cas hates witches more than I do." Sighing, Sam had to agree than Dean was right. Witches weren't exactly on any angels list of favourite people. At least that was something they could all agree on.

"Hey, Tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee. I'm still here and I can still hear you." Sam and Dean turned their attention to Millie whom had remained quiet until then. "Listen; if you want to fight these witches you're going to need some serious help. These aren't your usual suspects' type witches; they're far more powerful than any you've come across before. If you think burning some hex bags is gonna cut it, it won't. You've no idea what you're up against."

"And what exactly are you suggesting Millie?" Dean's voice was somewhat hostile but today had been anything but good and he wanted some answers.

"Look you guys, you know all about demons, ghosts and monsters but witches, I mean _proper_ witches, this is something else. This is a whole different world and you need someone on your side who knows that world on the inside."

"And you do? How do we know you're not with them—"

"Dean—"

"No I'm serious Sammy!" Dean walked up to Millie so that he looked her right in the eyes. Millie didn't flinch though, she hardly blinked and stood there resolute. Dean Winchester didn't scare her. "If you want to help us, you need to be straight with us because I'm not gonna be screwed over by some Sabrina the teenage witch wannabe okay. So what's your deal huh Millie? Why do you want to go after them so bad?"

"They took something off me and I want it back."

"What did they take?"

Millie sighed. "Not everything with magic is bad. There's a difference between witches and wiccans the same way there's a difference between genies and djinns. Not all witches trade their souls for their powers. Some of us are born with them."

"What like Harry Potter? Do you get some magical letter saying you're going to Hogfarts?"

"Warts. It's Hog_warts_ Dean." Sam explained

"Whatever man."

"Is he always this insufferable?"

"Pretty much yeah."

Millie went quiet for a while as if she was carefully thinking through what to say. "Look, the same way angels are born with their Grace that give them their powers, witches are born with this thing called the _Awen_. In mythology the Awen usually refers to that force in nature which creates inspiration but what most people don't know is that it's in fact the root of our magic. Pure. Raw. Magic. Marius took mine and I'd like it back." she explained

"Marius? You mean the smug British douchebag?" Sam asked

"I helped save your lives back there!"

"We survived the apocalypse!" Dean countered

"Yeah and only _just _from what I've heard; the gossips gets to us too you know. Look, I know it's a lot to ask for but I'm _telling_ _you_, you can _trust_ me. It was my job to make sure Marius didn't get the key and now he's got that and my Awen. I know where they're going but I can't exactly take them alone."

"Which is where exactly?" Sam asked.

"A small town in Maine called Storybrooke. I have some friends there who can help us."

The two brothers exchanged glances as if there were some sort of telepathic conversation going on between them but there didn't need to be. They knew each other well enough and had been on the road with each other long enough for Sam to know exactly what Dean was thinking at that moment. Their case had just gotten a little more complicated but then again that seemed to be the constant story of their lives.

"Okay fine," Dean said finally "We'll help you find those ugly sons of bitches but only because I really hate him and I still really hate witches. Now, I only have one more question."

"Yeah and what's that?"

"Who exactly are you Millie?"

**XXXXXXX**

**TO BE CONTINUED….**

**I know that was very long and maybe a bit messy but it will all be cleared up soon enough. What do you think so far? Like it? Love it? Hate it? Hopefully you won't hate it but either way please leave a review. **


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